Why Horizon 3 Needs to Double Down on Flashpoints After…

Summary

Guerrilla Games' Horizon series has gained prominence as one of Sony's must-play exclusives, alongside God of War and The Last of Us.
While the Horizon games have featured dialogue choices for Aloy called flashpoints, they have often had little impact on the story.
In Horizon 3, Guerrilla needs to improve the implementation of flashpoints to make them more meaningful and allow players to affect the plot in a significant and satisfying manner.

Guerrilla Games' Horizon series has swiftly risen to prominence since the first title, Horizon Zero Dawn, released in 2017 to high praise. It was a quality single-player experience with an impressively unique open world, well-realized characters, and a thought-provoking story. The 2019 followup, Horizon Forbidden West, saw improvements nearly across the board, and firmly cemented the franchise as one of the prestige experiences under Sony's umbrella. Horizon now sits side by side with contemporaries like God of War and The Last of Us as part of the PlayStation's library of must-play exclusives.

Guerrilla already has plans in the works for further entries, including a Horizon multiplayer title that, while not directly continuing the story, will expand the world and lore, and is likely to release before the third proper mainline title. In Horizon 3, though, players will almost assuredly find themselves back in Aloy's shoes as she and her compatriots press on with their efforts to prevent the current world-threatening event. In both previous Horizon titles, players were presented with various dialogue choices for Aloy, called flashpoints. These would ostensibly change plot beats and NPC relationships depending on the response.

Unfortunately, the ramifications of flashpoints often either failed to materialize completely, or were relegated to barely noticeable changes. In Horizon 3, Guerrilla needs to find a way to integrate them in a more relevant and impactful manner, especially if it is to be the end of Aloy's journey.

Horizon 3's Flashpoints Need to Be More Meaningful Than Forbidden West's

A screenshot of Aloy and Seyka sitting together and talking by the coast in Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores.

The Problem with Horizon: Forbidden West's Flashpoints

Flashpoints are a mechanic that allows players to choose responses for Horizon' s protagonist Aloy when engaging other characters in conversation. This is a staple of RPGs, and although it's not an RPG in the sense of the Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect series (since Aloy has an established backstory and fleshed out personality), Horizon's conversation wheels closely resemble the ones in those games. These dialogue trees hold the promise of conforming the narrative to players' perceptions and decisions, informing and reacting to their version or representation of the protagonist organically. When designed well, they increase immersion and investment while providing appropriate alterations in the storyline.

The issue with Forbidden West's flashpoints is threefold:

Aloy's options only come in three flavors: intelligent, empathetic, or aggressive.
There were fewer of them compared to Zero Dawn.
The outcome of any choice was minor at best, and entirely illusory at worst.

There were exceptions; in particular, certain responses did change Aloy's relationships with Horizon: Forbidden West's NPCs, and tangibly affected some of the possible storylines, like the matter of the Tenakth Desert Clan's leader. But a vast majority of them didn't alter events in any noticeable way, even when it was heavily implied they would. In many cases, players were railroaded onto a predetermined path regardless of their preferred reaction. The agency that flashpoints promised was just a flash in the pan in the story's grand scheme.

How Horizon 3 Could Improve Flashpoints

Horizon Forbidden West Aloy Speaking To Dukkah

Given the ending setup of Forbidden Wes t, Horizon 3 might bring the tale of Aloy and her friends to a definitive conclusion. As it stands now, the narrative stakes are as high as possible, and therefore the opportunity to integrate flashpoints better than previously done is clear. A more robust and fulfilling implementation of flashpoints that matches the climax of the story to their consequences would go a long way to justifying the time and effort players put into choosing them.

One route Guerrilla can take in the pursuit of making flashpoints truly matter could be something similar to how games like Baldur's Gate or Fallout handle dialogue options. They can provide multiple distinct ending variations depending upon players' actions and conversations.

Whatever other improvements Horizon 3 may contain, it would behoove Guerrilla to ensure that its flashpoints genuinely allow players to affect plot elements in a more significant and satisfying manner.

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